Why Do You Hate Me?
by Sir Weston
Summary: When Filmore and Ike play a prank on Firkle it goes way too far and ends up exposing something he's been keeping secret his whole life. Feeling guilty, Ike tries to apologize, but it may be too late. He's already ruined the goth's life. But is there anything he can do to make things better? Please read & review! One-Shot


**While searching Google for hot picks of my favorite pairings I found a picture of Filmore encouraging Ike to put a sign reading "I am a fag" on Firkle's back. And I thought about how that would be a great premise for a one-shot. So that's this. Here you go.**

**Why Do You Hate Me?**

"Come on, Ike, just do it!" Filmore hissed at the shorter teen next to him, "Don't be a pussy! It'll be hilarious!"

Ike clutched the paper in his hands nervously, staring over at where Firkle was putting his books into his locker. The goth was quite some distance away and couldn't hear what they were saying. Ike had no problem with Firkle, but he didn't want Filmore to make fun of him.

"I don't know, Filmore," he finally said, "This seems really cruel. I mean Firkle hasn't done anything to us. Can't we pull this prank on someone else?"

Filmore scoffed. "No way! Firkle is the perfect target!" he explained, "He doesn't have any friends, so no one will even care! This will be the ultimate prank!"

"It's not even that funny," Ike muttered, looking down at the paper. It read "I am a fag." A spin on the old "kick me" gag. He sighed. "Why don't you do it?" he asked.

"Because he'll know I'm up to something if I go over!" Filmore huffed, "You're nice. And you're student president. He wouldn't suspect a thing!"

"This isn't a good idea…" Ike argued. Filmore frowned.

"Just do it already, you wimp!" He grabbed Ike's shoulders, spun him around, and shoved him towards the goth. Ike stumbled forwards and managed to catch himself before he fell over. He walked over to Firkle and placed a hand on his back, as well as the sign.

"Uh, hey Firkle," he greeted nervously, "Um, what are you up to?"

Firkle looked at him, looking confused as to why he was talking to him. "Getting ready for class," he replied, "What does it look like?"

"Oh, right," Ike said, feeling kind of stupid. He wished Filmore had given him more time to think of what to say before coming over. "Um, what are you doing after school?"

"Nothing," Firkle muttered, "I do a lot of that these days." He closed his locker and turned to Ike. "Is there something you need from me?"

"Er, no. I was just coming over to see how you were doing," Ike lied.

"Oh, I'm doing," Firkle sighed, "Doing ever so great ever since my friends abandoned me in this God-forsaken town to fend for myself. I couldn't be happier."

Ike could feel the sarcasm and misery dripping from his voice and now he felt even worse for the prank. He started to reach for the paper and tear it off his back, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Filmore glaring at him and mouthing "don't you dare" at him. Ike swallowed.

"Um, well I gotta go. I'll see you around, Firkle," he said quickly, walking back to Filmore. He heard Firkle mutter "whatever" in response.

"Ha! Ha! That was brilliant, Ike!" Filmore exclaimed, slapping Ike hard on the back, "I can't wait to see what happens!"

Ike looked down and shuffled his feet nervously. "About that, I'm really starting to regret this Filmore," he said, "I think this is a really bad idea."

"Well it's too late now," Filmore pointed out, "And you no longer have a choice in the matter. After all, you're the one who pulled it off."

Guiltily, Ike looked over to where a bunch of girls walked past Firkle and started snickering at him. Firkle gave them confused looks before looking around, trying to figure out what could have been so funny. Then two guys walked past while pointing and laughing at him. Firkle watched them with shock.

"What's your deal?" he growled at them. The two guys laughed harder.

"Ha! The fag wants to know what our deal is! That's a laugh!" one of them guffawed.

Ike watched as Firkle's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "What did you just call me?" he breathed.

"Do you like to take it up the ass, fag?" a jock called to him in a jeering voice.

"Careful, he might start trying to hump you!" someone else quipped.

A bunch of students started gathering around, laughing and pointing, as Firkle slowly backed against the wall. Ike fought his way to the front of the crowd, ignoring Filmore, just as the captain of the football team stepped forward.

"Hey faggot!" he hissed right before punching Firkle square in the jaw. Firkle slammed against the wall before silently sliding to the floor. He didn't move again.

Ike sprinted forward and crouched down next to him. The goth was still breathing, but his hair covered his eyes, so Ike didn't know if they were open or not. He noticed there was silence behind him as the laughing and jeering had slowly came to a still. He whipped around and glared at everyone.

"Get out of here, all of you!" he shouted, "You're lucky if I don't report every single one of you!" He stared directly at the football captain as he said this.

As everyone started hastily walking away, Ike turned back to Firkle. He was surprised to see tears running down the goth's face.

"How did they know?" he whispered, "How did they find out? I thought I was being so careful." Ike stared in shock at him.

"Firkle?"

"They called me a fag," Firkle continued, "How? I thought they would never find out that I'm…" He drifted off. Ike's eyes widened.

Wait a minute. Was Firkle actually… gay? Did he and Filmore accidentally just expose his secret to the whole school? A fresh wave of guilt rose up in Ike and he felt himself coming close to tears.

"I'm sorry Firkle," he murmured to the goth, "It's my fault. Filmore had this stupid idea for a prank and he made me go along with it." He reached behind him and pulled the sign off him and held it in front to show him. He heard Firkle take a sharp breath.

"Ike," Firkle hissed, "How could you? I thought you were better than that."

"I know," Ike muttered, feeling ashamed, "I should've tried harder to fight back. I felt horrible as soon as I did it. And I had no idea it would escalate so quickly! I'm so sorry, Firkle."

Firkle clenched his teeth and fists and slowly but shakily got to his feet. Ike tried to help him, but the goth shook him off. "I'm going to the nurse's office," he announced, "So she can hopefully fix some of this damage you caused."

Again, Ike tried to offer some assistance, but Firkle would have none of it. He watched with shame as the goth slowly stumbled down the hall.

"What have I done?" Ike muttered.

…

Firkle didn't show up to school the next day or the day after that and Ike was starting to become worried about him. Filmore, however, just brushed off his concerns.

"He's probably just moping in his room like any emo would," he said after the third day Firkle didn't show up.

"He's a goth," Ike hissed under his breath.

"Whatever," Filmore dismissed, "Anyway, just give it some time. Everyone will forget about the whole fag thing and he'll be back. It's not that big of a deal."

"It was a big deal to him," Ike pointed out.

"Why do you even care?" Filmore asked with an annoyed sigh, "It's not like you're friends with him."

"We don't have to be friends for me to care," Ike argued, "Besides, I feel guilty for what I did. It's called having a conscious. You should get one sometime."

Filmore scowled at him. "Sounds to me like you're going gay for him, Ike," he snarled, "Do we have two fags in this school?"

"N-No!" Ike exclaimed, taken aback, "I'm just concerned is all! Don't you feel even just a little guilty? That prank was your idea!"

"Not at all," Filmore replied smugly, leaning back in his seat. Ike glared at him.

"You are unbelievable!" Ike hissed at him, standing up. He stood from his seat and started storming from the room.

"Hey, where are you going?" Filmore called.

"Like you care!" Ike spat.

He didn't care if he was ditching school. Ike got into his car and started driving back towards town. When they were kids he had learned Firkle's house address and he hoped it hadn't changed at all. Eventually he reached the house he remembered to be Firkle's and parked on the street. He sat in his car for a moment wondering if Firkle would even answer if he knocked on the door. There was no car in the driveway so parents clearly weren't home.

Finally, Ike decided to take a look around the house and see if he couldn't find Firkle's room. It was a single-story house, so he started walking around the perimeter to see if he couldn't tell which window was the goth's room. He could tell immediately when he got to the backyard. Where all the other windows had bright primary colored drapes, there was one window that was painted black to let in as little light as possible. Ike took a breath and tapped on it. He heard movement coming from inside and a moment or two later, the sound of a latch being undone and the window flew open.

Firkle stood in the open window blinking against the harsh light. Once he got used to it, he scowled when he saw Ike.

"What do you want?" he hissed.

"You haven't shown up to school in a few days," Ike pointed out, ignoring his hostility, "I was concerned about you."

"Pfft! Yeah right!" Firkle scoffed, "I'm sure our wonderful class president is just checking up on the goth no one gives a fuck about! Don't waste my time!"

"I do care about you, Firkle! I mean it!" Ike insisted, "Even if no one else does. Please come back to school!"

"Why? So I can be tormented and teased for being gay?" he hissed, "No thank you! Once was enough for one life time."

"Oh come on! In a few days no one will even care anymore," Ike said. Firkle glared at him and Ike shrank back slightly.

"I don't think you understand how high school works, Ike," Firkle spat, "You might not get picked on because you're popular and everyone loves you. But let me explain how things are for us at the bottom. No one ever forgets. People latch on to your flaws and they will never let you live them down. They make your life a living Hell every single day. You say no one will care in a few days, but that just shows how naïve you are. I might as well drop out at this point."

Ike felt his heart break. "Firkle, I'm so sorry," he murmured, "I had no idea it was so bad for you."

"It wasn't until you ruined everything!" Firkle snarled, "No one paid any attention to me until you pulled that stupid prank on me and exposed my secret to everyone! You know what, Ike? You can say you're sorry all you like but it's not going to change anything! You ruined my life! Thanks a lot, asshole! Do me a favor and never talk to me again!"

With that, he reached out and slammed his window shut. Ike stared at it in despair before slowly making his way back to his car. Instead of going back to school, he drove home, feeling too miserable to do any school work.

As he laid on his bed, he felt absolutely worthless. He hadn't meant to ruin Firkle's life. It was just a stupid prank. He should've tried harder to tell Filmore "no." Why was he so weak?

He ignored his mother's calls for dinner and instead fell asleep thinking of Firkle. His dreams were filled the smell of coffee and cigarettes and when Ike woke with a start, he found he had a rather, um, _stiff_ problem in his pants. Ike stared in shock at it. Sure, he had erections before, and he had jacked off before, but it was always to images of sexy women.

Why had a dream about Firkle caused him to get an erection? Unless…

Ike shook his head, dismissing the possibility. He reached under his bed and pulled out his Sports Illustrated and other materials he usually jerked off to. But as he pulled down his pants and started rubbing his dick, he found nothing was doing it for him.

But then the image of a certain black haired brown eyed goth flew into his head and Ike gasped as a wave of pleasure ran through him. He started panting as he thought about Firkle, rubbing his dick in a sensual way. He moaned as he imagined what it would be like to press himself against the goth, kiss him, and slip his tongue into his mouth. Ike had never really thought about it before, but Firkle was rather attractive. At least to him.

Suddenly, Ike arched his back, moaning loudly as he came all over his hand. He waited a moment to come down from his high before reaching over to his nightstand to grab some tissues and clean himself off. Then he pulled his pants back up and stared at the ceiling.

Did he just masturbate to Firkle's image? Fuck.

…

In lunch the next day, Ike found that Firkle was right. When he listened closely he could still hear people talking about the goth, calling him "the fag." As he sat in between Filmore and one of his other friends, he slowly felt his anger rising.

"Hey where's the fag?" a jock at the table asked, "I haven't seen him in a while."

"Who knows?" Filmore replied, "And who cares? Maybe he did us all a favor and killed himself." As the table started chuckling, Ike couldn't stand it anymore.

Slamming his fists on the table, Ike stood up and glared at his so-called friends. "That's enough!" he growled, "I don't want to hear anymore gay bashing now or ever! Especially about Firkle! You guys have no idea how hard his life is!"

"Geez, calm down, Ike," Filmore muttered.

"No, Filmore, I will not calm down!" Ike spat at him, "I'm sick and tired of your bullying! I should've never gone along with your stupid prank! It wasn't funny and it really hurt Firkle!"

"Who cares about that gaywad?" Filmore asked.

"I do!" Ike hissed, "And you know what? If you guys want to make fun of gays then you're going to have to make fun of me too! Because I'm gay!"

As everyone at the table stared in shock, Ike stormed out of the cafeteria. He didn't care if he was skipping for the second day in a row.

He had to talk to Firkle.

Driving a bit faster than was legal, he made it to Firkle's house and went around back, rapping on the black painted window. When Firkle opened it, he glared at Ike.

"I thought I told you to leave me alone!" he snarled, starting to close the window. Ike quickly stopped him.

"I need to talk to you!" Ike pleaded.

"I don't want to talk to you!"

As Firkle tried to shut the window on him, Ike quickly slipped inside into the room. Firkle took a few hasty steps back from him, but never took his angry glare off him.

"Why do you hate me?" he hissed, "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

Ike ignored him and took a moment to close the window. Then he turned back to the angry goth. "I told off my friends for picking on you," he began, "I don't think I'll be talking to them anymore."

Firkle scoffed. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?" he asked bitterly.

"No," Ike replied, shaking his head, "But I had an epiphany last night. I realized that I might be gay." Firkle looked taken aback as Ike took a step forward. "Not only that," he continued, "Firkle, I'm gay for you."

Firkle stared at him with wide eyes. Before Ike could ask what he was doing, he crossed the room over to him, cupped his face in his hands, leaned in, and kissed him deeply. Ike felt himself melting into the kiss, and he quickly wrapped his arms around Firkle's neck, bringing him closer. Firkle moved his hands to wrap around Ike's back and soon the two of them were kissing each other fiercely.

Ike had no idea that Firkle was into him, but now that they had their mouths on each other it felt so right. Ike opened his lips and allowed Firkle's tongue to slip past as he did the same. He had made out with girls before but he never knew making out with a guy could feel so good. Was this what it was like when you found your soul mate or something?

They kissed for a while before Firkle drew back, slightly out of breath. "I've always admired you, Ike," he confessed, "You're so intelligent. I never dreamed you would ever feel the same way about me as I felt for you."

Ike smiled softly at him. "Sorry I left you alone for so long," he said, "I should have never hung around a jerk like Filmore."

"I forgive you," Firkle replied, giving him a quick kiss. He suddenly gave Ike a wicked grin. "You know what? We should get payback on Filmore. Give him a taste of his own medicine."

"I like the way you think," Ike purred before swooping in to kiss Firkle deeply once more. He carefully backed the goth to his bed and gently pushed him onto it. Then he climbed on top of him, straddling his waist before leaning over to kiss him again.

As they continued kissing, Ike started to run his hands under Firkle's shirt, and he felt the goth shudder at his touch. He started breathing faster as he pulled Firkle's shirt up over his head. He felt Firkle stiffen beneath him and Ike looked down at him.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I've never done this before," Firkle confessed, "With anyone." Ike let out a small laugh.

"That's all right," he assured him, "I've never done it with a guy before. And the last time I did it I was five. Don't ask. We can figure it out together."

Staring up at him with wide eyes, Firkle slowly nodded. After the two slowly and sensually removed each other clothes, they made love to each other. Their bodies were wrapped in bliss as their arms and legs were tangled up. Ike made sure to be slow and gentle with Firkle in his movements, and by the time they were finished he was sure he was in heaven.

As the two laid in Firkle's bed, wrapped in each other's arms, Ike gently nuzzled his nose in Firkle's neck. "Firkle," he breathed, "I think I love you."

"I think I love you too, Ike," Firkle murmured.

…

The next day at school, Filmore just couldn't understand why everyone was snickering at him, not even noticing the "I wear women's underwear" sign taped to his back. Meanwhile, Ike and Firkle walked through the school to their classes holding hands and totally ignoring the people who stared at them.

**There's my one-shot. Hope you enjoyed it! It ended up being a lot longer than I meant it to be. I wanted it to be rated T so no explicit sex, sorry horny people! Let me know what you think, please leave a comment!**


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